Monday, June 21, 2010

“I’m this healthy person, I’ve been healthy all my life, and all of a sudden I have cancer. Are you kidding me?” tennis legend Martina Navratilova said. “I was devastated,” she told ABC television’s “Good Morning America” on being diagnosed in February, when a routine mammogram revealed a cluster in her left breast.

The former world number one said she had intended to keep the news quiet but changed her mind when she realized she could persuade other women to go for check-ups.

Getting a mammogram can help find the cancer early.

“The sooner you catch it, the better,” she said. “So get the bloody mammogram.”

Have you ever had a screening mammogram? Admittedly, although breast cancer is the number one killer of women in Malaysia, I have never had a screening mammogram. Oh wait, I am still under the age of 40!

The National Cancer Institute recommend that women age 40 and older should have mammograms every 1 to 2 years as the older a woman is, the greater her chance of developing breast cancer. And, more than 90% of all breast cancers are detected by mammogram.

Cancer is a scary word. But breast cancer is not a death sentence and every day there are more breast cancer survivors due to advances in treatments and drug therapy. Regular screening is the best way to find breast cancer early in most women. If you are at higher risk you may need mammograms at an earlier age or more often.

Don't let fear stop you from being screened! I know some women are terrified of getting mammograms, in worrying about get undressed, put on one of the exam gowns, go through the embarrassing motions of exposing first one breast, then the other to the clinician and the cold machine, get redressed, and wait the anxious days until you get the all clear signal. But, hey, mammograms can detect cancer in its very early stages and they do have the potential to save your lives.

Anyway, for those privacy-conscious patients, a move has spearheaded wherein patient exam gowns have been planned to be redesigned. For when patients' dignity is by far an important consideration, making sure that they are treated in a very respectful manner is their first way of coping up with their illness. And all these begin with what they wear in the hospital.

By the way, men can get breast cancer too. Please check your breasts today!